Rumplestiltskin is true name of the old gnome who posed a riddle to Graham. Ifnkovhgroghprm is another name the gnome goes by. This is Rumplestiltskin spelled using a backwards alphabet, i.e. (A=Z, B=Y, C=X, etc.). ^[1]. He also has been known to go by the name Nikstlitselpmur. He likes helping adventurers and posing puzzles.^[2] The gnome is old and bent under the weight of years but a playful wisdom brightens his eyes.^[3]

Contents 1 Background 2 Notes 3 Behind the scenes 3.1 Old Gnome (unofficial) 4 References

BackgroundEdit

The old wizened Gnome was the only resident in the Gnome's Isle of Daventry. He receives few visitors due to the troll that guards the bridges to the island.^[4] He is the same Rumplestiltskin from legend who would ask passers by whether they knew his name. He would reward whoever knew it. He claimed to be from a backwards part of the realm, so he asked that his name be spelled backwards usually using a backwards alphabet, and wouldn't accept anything else.

When Graham met him, the gnome asked him to answer the riddle of his name and would give him something that would be very useful to him on his quest.^[5][6][7] Graham guessed his name correctly (or rather the ones he had assumed) with help of a mysterious note he discovered in the Gingerbread House (it is rather unclear how the witch came across that note). As a reward the gnome gave Graham the Magic Beans and seeded the Magic Beanstalk.^[8] The gnome knew of Graham's mission to retrieve the missing treasures of Daventry, would have aided him even he had guessed wrong.^[9][10], by giving him the key to open the Door into Mountain that lead to the Land of the Clouds. Following the adventure, the Gnome became a good friend of the realm and adviser.^[11]

Alexander once encountered this gnome on his quest to save his sister at the time he lived in a shack south of Castle Daventry. Being an old friend of the royal family of Daventry and knew Alexander's true identity and explained what was going on in Daventry, and what he had to save the kingdom. He sent him up into the ruined Door into Mountain, and explained that a three-headed dragon that had moved into the kingdom and taken over the Land of the Clouds, and that his twin sister was about to be sacrificed to it.^[12] Alexander was told he had to somehow defeat the beast, save his sister, and save the kingdom. Alexander succeeded and he and his sister made the long climb back down the mountain, and soon met up with the gnome. Rumplestiltskin congratulated Alexander for his noble deed, and said he would go on ahead and announce Alexander's return to his parents.

Later Graham apparently met the gnome again in Serenia (or at least a close relative), playing with his grandson. He was able to return the magic spindle (Rumplestiltskin's one-of-a-kind heirloom) to the family. While there is no doubt that the gnome who helped Graham in his quest for the throne of Daventry was Rumplestiltskin, there is much confusion as to the identity of the gnome he met in Serenia. He was an old gnome to be sure, and while he looked familiar to Graham, he acted as if he had never seen the monarch before in his life. However, the spinning wheel which Graham returned to him could turn straw to gold and this could only belong to one gnome. Perhaps the years had clouded both Graham and Rumplestiltskin's memories and they merely didn't recognize each other.

This is possible, but the king is fabled for his memory. Was it then that the gnome did not want to be recognized and had cast a mild befuddlement spell over Graham? Finally, mayhaps the gnome was the son (or even the grandson) of Rumplestiltskin himself; The spinning wheel having been handed down to him. Gnomes are known to live ancient lives and it does not stretch possibility too far for this to be the case. Family resemblance alone might account Graham's sense of familiarity with the gnome.^[13]

Another possibility is that some form of time warp must be considered in this matter because anything seems possible in that magical land. In that case, Graham's second meeting with the gnome could very well have been the gnome's first meeting with Graham. This is a paradox of a high order.^[14]

Whatever the case, it is a mystery still in wait of a solution.^[15]

NotesEdit

• It is not exactly clear why he insisted on his name Rumplestiltskin, being spelled, Ifnkovhgroghprm^[16]. Some say it may be because he was living in a backwards part of the realm.
• Gnomes are not normally known to be prankster, and his subsequent behaviors suggests that there were motives behind the incident with Graham that may never be known. It is suggested in the KQ1 remake that he enjoyed testing and helping adventurers, and would have helped even if Graham had not answered his name correctly.
• Rumplestiltskin had been angered when the miller's daughter had guessed his name correctly, he stamped his foot through the floor and was never seen in those parts again. At least when Graham got the answer right, the gnome was a more gracious loser.^[17]
• The narrator in KQ3 suggests he looks like he is around a hundred years old (but as a gnome he is probably much older). SNW suggests that gnomes can be 10x the age of their appearance, thus if he looks 100, he could be up to 1000 years old.
• In KQC, Graham while in Serenia, notices the gnome looks familiar, and asked if they had met before. The gnome claims they didn't. He asks the gnome its name, the gnome says its much too difficult to pronounce. Graham was still sure they had met. This is a reference to Graham having met the gnome previously in KQ1, with the unpronounceable backwards names.

Behind the scenesEdit

The gnome is based off the fairy tale Rumplestiltskin. A gnome that spun straw into gold for a queen to give to her husband, in exchange for her first born child. When her first child was born, Rumplestiltskin returned to the take the child, but gave the queen the chance to keep the child if she could guess his name in three tries. Discovering his name, Rumplestiltskin, she answered correctly answered on the third try, causing the gnome to leave angrily. She kept the gold that was spun for the king, as well as her child.

The gnome of Daventry quite a bit friendlier and nicer than the gnome of the original fairy tale, and considered one of the "Good Guys" in King's Quest 1, according to original KQ1AGI Hintbook.

In fact in the King's Quest Companion, 2nd Edition, this story is told as part of Rumplestiltskin's backstory (before the time Graham met him in Daventry), and its suggested that Rumplestiltskin was a bit more gracious with Graham, than he had been with the miller's daughter. Could it be that Coignice, the miller's daughter is the same person who encountered Rumplestiltskin so many years before, and that Valanice was that child?

The gnome in KQ3 is the same gnome from King's Quest I, "This is your old friend, the gnome, from the original King's Quest game. You will find him friendly. He will tell you what's been happening in Daventry, and what you have to do."-Roberta Williams^[18] This is also confirmed in the An Encyclopedia of Daventry in the King's Quest Companion, 2nd Edition.

Note: the gnome wants you to spell his name backwards. Rumplestiltskin is spelled backward Nikstlitselpmur. When you spell the alphabet backwards and pick the original places of the letters in the original alphabet, you will get ifnkovhgroghprm. King's Questions and The King's Quest Companion 2nd edition confirms that he is Rumplestiltskin.

In the hintbooks for KQ1, KQ2, and KQ3, this character is just known as the 'Gnome' or 'Old Gnome'. It is sometimes described as the 'old gnome' in the game and other sources. In all three games he is generally described as the 'old gnome'.

Old Gnome (unofficial)Edit

The old gnome appears in fan fiction, including fan games, see Old Gnome (unofficial).

ReferencesEdit